I’m definitely hitting up my target on September 13th bright and early! I’m not as interested in the bike as I am the clothes. Do you know if everything will be available online at midnight? I might stay up late for that.

It’s $399 and only available online, according to the target website. Also a tip – target’s in bigger cities tend to put their collections out earlier than the launch date – I have found items up to two early already for sale on the floor….

Just a dissenting point of view. Paint jobs scratch and chip in real life use of a bike. Its really the last thing you should look at when picking a bike. Also, the quality of bikes from Target tends to be dismal at best. Also, if you look at the design of the frame itself, at least to me, it looks kind of awkward and not very lovely. Great paint job, terrible bike.

On the other hand, for a bit more money, you could have a real Italian bike with gorgeous lines on the frame, like an Abici. Or buy a Dutch bike like Gazelle Basic and get something that is stunnng to look at, even in basic black but will last you the rest of your life, comes with built in rack and generator lights, is built like a tank for hauling stuff around. And it’ll ride way better than any Target bike.

I think for me at least, good design has to go deeper than a pretty paint job, especially when it comes to something like a bike.

May I recommend the blog Lovely Bicycle to you? The blogger is getting in road cycling right now, which isn’t really what you’d be interested in, but her earlier posts have a lot of great info on picking a truly lovely bicycle. The bike review section is great.

I second the quality warning. My sis-in-law bought the lib of london one & it shipped to her with a bent fork. The fork was bent like it had been in a cyclist/auto wreck. Dunno how that happened, but she ended up taking it back.

They’re absolutely adorable, but super heavy. If they made them in steel-framed free/fixed IRO frame with deep V colored rims for that price point, I’d be all over it!

If you are going to have your kids on your bike,(kids love that), quality is a must. Think about ‘gears’, especially if you live in an area with hills! It’s easy to hurt your back if you get the wrong kind of bike with a big (precious) load like that.
That is one of the reasons most Dutch bikes are so sturdy and decked out with all kinds of nifty stuff but mostly it is the main transportation for a lot of moms in Holland. One kid up front with windscreen, one in the back and your groceries go in the basket and saddle bags. Now I know this is not a realistic thing in some parts of the states, I found that out myself moving here from Holland so I do miss that, besides its good for your leg muscles! Hahaha!
Now for decorations, I know in Holland you can by kits with stickers to trick out your bike but many of us duchies just helped themselves to whatever was around the house, like a bright bandana or any kind of fabric to wrap around your saddle to liven it up. Also used a lot of different color electrical tape to go around your frame, spray paint is always an easy fix with some free hand painting on top of it. And if you want to go all out, flower streamers will cute the whole thing up! Just always keep in mind that your reflectors and lights have to be seen!

I am pretty sure that anyone who buys the bike knows that it is “target quality” and isn’t expecting something top of the line. Like me, for example. I ride my bike to work and back (just a few miles) and already have a cheapie bike to begin with. This one makes me happy. I hope I can score one!

I am selling both my Liberty of London and Missoni bikes on eBay (now)…starting bid is basically what they sold for in the store. Not looking to make a huge profit like most people, just feeling icky after watching how ugly & mean people were getting at the Missoni launch. After having spent the last year gazing lovingly at my Liberty bike (it’s so beautiful), it’s time to say goodbye. I’ll use the money towards a plain bike with no hard feelings :)